1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a connector supporting structure to support a connector mounted on a substrate and a connector-equipped electronic device (which employs the connector supporting structure) with an electronic component(s) mounted on the substrate as well as the connector.
2. Description of the Related Art
An electronic device is known in which a connector and electronic components such as integrated circuit or transistor are mounted on a wiring pattern of a circuit board and a casing member is provided to enclose a portion of the connector and the electronic components (see, e.g., JP-A-2009-205944).
The electronic device disclosed in JP-A-2009-205944 is connected to an external equipment via a cable by fitting a cable-side connector to a device-side connector mounted on the circuit board. The device-side connector is provided with a connector housing (base portion) having a housing space formed therein and a pair of connecting terminals housed in the housing space. The pair of connecting terminals is provided such that one end is connected to a terminal of the cable-side connector and another end is bent toward the circuit board so as to pass through a though-hole formed on the circuit board and is solder-connected to the wiring pattern provided on the back side of the circuit board.
The connector housing has four rod-like terminals which protrude respectively from four corners of a bottom portion toward the circuit board. The rod-like terminals pass through through-holes formed on the circuit board and are solder-connected to a ground pattern provided on the back side of the circuit board. The casing member has a rectangular parallelepiped shape which is composed of an upper wall facing the circuit board and sidewalls surrounding the upper wall so as to open on the circuit board side. A opening is formed on the sidewall by cutting out a portion thereof so as to let the connector housing pass therethrough and a thin plate-like wall is thus formed in the periphery of the opening.
An electronic device in the first embodiment of JP-A 2009-205944 has the connector housing integral with a flange protruding outward from an outer peripheral wall except the bottom portion. When the casing member is mounted on the circuit board so that the opening covers over the outer peripheral wall of the connector housing, the flange comes into surface-contact with the wall portion around the opening from the outside of the casing member. This allows the outer surface of the wall portion of the casing member to receive a force applied to the device-side connector at the time of fitting the cable-side connector.
Meanwhile, an electronic device in the second embodiment of JP-A-2009-205944, has a depressed portion as a recessed groove that is formed across the outer peripheral wall of the connector housing. When the casing member is mounted on the circuit board so that the opening covers over the outer peripheral wall of the connector housing, the wall portion around the opening is fitted to the depressed portion. Thus, the wall portion is sandwiched in the thickness direction thereof by a pair of facing walls of the depressed portion. One of the pair of facing walls which is located inside of the casing member comes into surface-contact with the wall portion from the inside of the casing member. This allows the inner surface of the wall portion of the casing member to receive a force applied to the device-side connector at the time of pulling out the cable-side connector.